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3.1 Introduction

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3.1 Introduction

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charis.tbol15
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13/04/2025, 21:31 3.

1 Introduction

C⚬MP⚬SING PR⚬GRAMS TEXT PROJECTS TUTOR ABOUT

Chapter 3
Hide contents Chapter 3: Interpreting Computer Programs

3.1 Introduction 3.1 Introduction


3.1.1 Programming Languages
Chapters 1 and 2 describe the close connection between two fundamental elements of
programming: functions and data. We saw how functions can be manipulated as data using higher-
3.2 Functional Programming order functions. We also saw how data can be endowed with behavior using message passing and
an object system. We have also studied techniques for organizing large programs, such as functional
3.2.1 Expressions
abstraction, data abstraction, class inheritance, and generic functions. These core concepts
3.2.2 Definitions
constitute a strong foundation upon which to build modular, maintainable, and extensible programs.
3.2.3 Compound values
3.2.4 Symbolic Data This chapter focuses on the third fundamental element of programming: programs themselves. A
3.2.5 Turtle graphics Python program is just a collection of text. Only through the process of interpretation do we perform
any meaningful computation based on that text. A programming language like Python is useful
because we can define an interpreter, a program that carries out Python's evaluation and execution
3.3 Exceptions
procedures. It is no exaggeration to regard this as the most fundamental idea in programming, that
3.3.1 Exception Objects an interpreter, which determines the meaning of expressions in a programming language, is just
another program.
To appreciate this point is to change our images of ourselves as programmers. We come to see
3.4 Interpreters for Languages
ourselves as designers of languages, rather than only users of languages designed by others.
with Combination

3.4.1 A Scheme-Syntax
3.1.1 Programming Languages
Calculator
3.4.2 Expression Trees
3.4.3 Parsing Expressions Programming languages vary widely in their syntactic structures, features, and domain of
3.4.4 Calculator Evaluation application. Among general purpose programming languages, the constructs of function definition
and function application are pervasive. On the other hand, powerful languages exist that do not
include an object system, higher-order functions, assignment, or even control constructs such as
3.5 Interpreters for Languages while and for statements. As an example of a powerful language with a minimal set of features, we
with Abstraction will introduce the Scheme programming language. The subset of Scheme introduced in this text
does not allow mutable values at all.
3.5.1 Structure
3.5.2 Environments In this chapter, we study the design of interpreters and the computational processes that they create
3.5.3 Data as Programs when executing programs. The prospect of designing an interpreter for a general programming
language may seem daunting. After all, interpreters are programs that can carry out any possible
computation, depending on their input. However, many interpreters have an elegant common
structure: two mutually recursive functions. The first evaluates expressions in environments; the
second applies functions to arguments.
These functions are recursive in that they are defined in terms of each other: applying a function
requires evaluating the expressions in its body, while evaluating an expression may involve applying
one or more functions.
Continue: 3.2 Functional Programming

Composing Programs by John DeNero, based on the textbook Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs by Harold Abelson and Gerald Jay Sussman, is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

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